Loo etiquette has a new standard: put the toilet lid down as well as the seat, because leaving the lid up when flushing could lead to bacterial and viral transmission. It sounds like the wisdom of a germaphobe, but it's one of the findings in a new global review, published in Science of the Total Environment.
These bacteria can stick to the walls of the toilet or other items like toothbrush, towel and soap. So, to avoid contact with these harmful bacteria, you must keep the toilet lid closed while you flush and when you are not using it (why to take a chance).
Any household shared by men and women inevitably deals with a pressing question: what do you do with the toilet seat after it's used? Conventionally, it's considered courteous for men to always lower the seat back down after they've urinated.
Keep Your Toilet Lid Closed
Microbes come from infectious diseases from whatever is in that toilet bowl. Vomit and feces can contain high pathogen concentrations such as Shigella, Salmonella, and even norovirus. These pathogens can actually survive on surfaces for weeks or even months.
It keeps everything much better contained,” Dr. Roberts says. “It's not perfect, but it certainly is better.” A 2021 research review published in the journal Environmental Science and Pollution Research found that flushing without closing the lid leads to surface contamination of the toilet.
When you flush the toilet, do you close the lid? If you don't, you are likely releasing a “toilet plume” into the air — which is essentially an aerosol spray filled with bacteria. All that bubbling, swirling and splashing can aerosolize fecal waste, sending tiny particles airborne.
As a general principle, it's best to leave the seat in the position in which you yourself used it, with the responsibility being on the next user, whatever their gender, to put the seat into the appropriate position to suit their particular anatomy.
It's More Sanitary
In fact, a 2012 study conducted at a British teaching hospital found that feces-borne, diarrhea-causing bacteria can spray from the toilet during a flush, with the bacteria then settling on nearby surfaces.
Make sure you do not wet the toilet seat. Do not throw water on the floor as someone might slip and get hurt. Females should always sit on the toilet seat while peeing. Male employees should always stand a little close to the toilet seat to avoid dripping. Never forget to use flush once you are done.
Letting pee sit makes it harder to clean your toilet. This is the best reason I can find for flushing every time you pee.
Mythbusters did an episode about this process and confirmed, unfortunately, that when you flush a toilet with the lid up particles of feces will be almost everywhere in your bathroom, including your toothbrush.
Spending too much time on the toilet causes pressure on your rectum and anus. Because the seat is cut out, your rectum is lower than the rest of your backside. Gravity takes over, and blood starts to pool and clot in those veins. Add in any straining or pushing, and you may have a recipe for hemorrhoids.
There are only three things you can safely flush down the toilet into the sewer system —pee, poo and (toilet) paper. Just remember those three as the three Ps that you can flush. And don't forget, "flushable" wipes are not really flushable.
Cotton balls, cotton pads, and Q-Tips are definitely not safe to flush — they don't break down the way toilet paper does, and all they really do is clump together in your pipes and cause problems down the line.
A few blamed “boredom”, others “relaxation” and “hygiene”. But the most common response, with almost 80 percent of the vote, was that they were in there “to get some alone time”.
For men, proper etiquette involves lifting the seat before urinating, then cleaning up any spatter or stray drops from the rim of the toilet afterwards. People might get a pass on cleaning the rim of the toilet —especially if it's already filthy — but not putting the seat up before urinating is really low-class.
The reason men lift the seat is make sure they don't splash the seat with their urine.
Actually both sexes are supposed to put the seat and lid down to prevent fecal material from going airborne while flushing. If you're only putting the seat down you're letting crap spray all over your bathroom and you're inhaling it. There's a great mythbusters episode about it.
Mold Growth
And even if the toilet lid is kept open, airborne spores can easily take hold in toilet bowls. Mold thrives best in stagnant water, and toilets that are used infrequently and not flushed often are more likely to develop a problem with mold and mildew than those that are flushed more often.
After you eat, it takes about six to eight hours for food to pass through your stomach and small intestine. Food then enters your large intestine (colon) for further digestion, absorption of water and, finally, elimination of undigested food. It takes about 36 hours for food to move through the entire colon.
It happens when you have trouble having a bowel movement. You may leak stool with gas or find yourself leaking stools throughout the day. Hemorrhoids Hemorrhoids are swelling of the veins inside or outside the rectum. They can cause symptoms such as itching, pain, and bleeding.
#4: The Longest Time Spent Sitting on the Toilet
His goal was to hit 165 hours (almost seven days) of sitting on the loo, however, due to sore legs, he only made it to 116 hours.
Just one or two wipes are enough to clean.
This also applies to normal urinary frequency. For most people, the normal number of times to urinate per day is between 6 – 7 in a 24 hour period. Between 4 and 10 times a day can also be normal if that person is healthy and happy with the number of times they visit the toilet.